How to Mount a TV Without Making a Mess

It’s one factor to obsess over the aesthetics of your flat-screen TV — the beveled corners, the display dimension, the colour temperature. But with out considerate set up, you’ll be able to wind up with a stunning rectangular show surrounded by a rat’s nest of cords, or worse, 40 kilos of glass and electronics that may fall off the wall at any second.

Todd Anthony Puma, chief govt of The Source Home Theater in New York, sees poorly put in televisions on a regular basis — gear not mounted on the studs or barely held in place with simply a couple of screws or anchors. “What would happen after a period of time is that the TV would slowly but surely come off the wall, and sooner or later, you have a television that’s on your floor and possibly could injure somebody in the home, which is the worst-case scenario,” he mentioned.

Here’s what to take into account if you would like to mount your TV securely with out sacrificing the room to a tangle of cords.

Before you do something, make a plan

Think about all the gadgets you’ll want to join — not simply the containers, akin to gaming consoles or a cable field, but additionally your audio receiver, speaker or soundbar. Make certain that your shelving unit or cupboard has sufficient house to maintain all the pieces, and that you’ve got sufficient cables and wire for each system you propose to join, and that they’re all lengthy sufficient.

At Wirecutter, we advocate all the time planning to add yet another HDMI twine than you assume you’ll want, simply in case you add a system later, after all the pieces is ready up. It’s simpler to set up that twine now than to achieve this as soon as all the pieces is in place. “When you know how many wires you’re going to have, then you’ll know how to hide them,” Mr. Puma mentioned.

For gaming or for a family with a lot of web use, it’s your decision to take into account wiring an Ethernet cable to your TV and console out of your modem as a substitute of counting on Wi-Fi. You’ll get the very best pace with a direct line for the machines that gobble up essentially the most bandwidth.

Christine Lin, principal for Form & Field, an interior design firm in San Francisco, suggests you avoid placing your TV opposite a window in order to avoid glare. When considering height placement, she said, “I always recommend that the center of the TV should be at eye level when you’re seated. Often TVs are placed too high up on the wall which can cause a lot of neck strain.”

Mr. Puma explained, “If cords are not insulated or sealed, like the Romex cables or BX cable that is permitted in our area, when you’re pulling through the wall, a nail or screw can hit it a certain way. One thing leads to another, you turn on the TV after a few hundred times, it lights up and then puts your house on fire.”

There is a code-compliant way to pass cords and cables behind drywall, though. Chris Heinonen, Wirecutter’s resident TV expert, recommends a kit that costs about $70 and you can install it on your own. “For a TV I use something like the PowerBridge TWO-CK Dual Outlet Recessed In-Wall Cable Management System since that’s O.K. with fire code and lets you run the cables inside the wall.”

If you live in Chicago and Cook County, Illinois or New York City, PowerBridge offers a compliant metal junction box and metal-clad wire version. (Check your local building code to make sure you’re getting the right version if you plan to do this, though.) Cables should also be rated CL — which you can find on the packaging or in the product description online — for wall insulation.

If you mount your TV on a brick wall and install a power bridge, you can use paintable cord covers to keep them all bundled and out of sight. Mr. Heinonen recommends cord housing like the Legrand CMK10 Cable Management System, which has double-sided adhesive so you can run it along a window frame or art and then paint it to match the wall color.

Ventilate your gear properly

All of the devices you connect to your entertainment system produce plenty of heat, which can shorten their lives or damage other electronics without proper ventilation.

“The one thing I always recommend is to keep your equipment properly ventilated,” Mr. Puma said. “Don’t put a TV in the perfect fitted box; make sure there’s a little space, so if you wanted to, you could get your fingers in there to take the TV down, or if the service guy has to come in from one of the TV manufacturers, they’ll be able to easily maintenance it as well.”

Give everything enough clearance, and make sure any cabinetry you use has ventilation holes for heat. You may even prefer to install a cabinet cooling fan to circulate air.

You should also call a pro if you’re dealing with challenging wall materials like brick, which is naturally inconsistent, or walls with plumbing on the other side. “I think if there is anything extra on the walls like tile you’ll probably want a professional to deal with that drilling unless you’re pretty handy,” Ms. Lin said.

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